Ferguson Q&A - Premier League Hall of Fame 2023

ON JOINING MANCHESTER UNITED IN 1986…

I had spent eight-and-a-half years at Aberdeen and they were fantastic. Great club, great city. But it was time for me to be challenged.

I’d turned down Spurs and Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Rangers twice. but I think Manchester United was different. The chairman asked me if I wanted to go, and I said: ‘Yes I did’.

I had never worked in England, never managed in England, never played in England. I think that in itself was a test for me.

They were second bottom of the league and my main drive, my main intention was to win the league.

ON THE ARRIVAL OF ERIC CANTONA IN 1992…

When Eric Cantona came, it was like the messiah. Players loved him. The young players loved him. His presence, his confidence, his stature.

I always remember he came on as a sub against Manchester City for his first game at halftime and he made a six-yard pass - it was the best six-yard pass I've ever seen in my life!

It’s something about great players, they can do something simple that looks great. he transformed the confidence factor and we deservedly won the league.

ON SUSTAINED SUCCESS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE…

When we won our first Premier League title, that just opened the door for us.

Challenging for the league is the most important thing. That’s what keeps everyone happy in the club.

We tried to win every league. We were close to winning every league in that period of 18 years or something. Five times we were second and we won it the next year.

ON HIS FINAL TITLE WIN IN 2012/13 AND RETIREMENT….

I’d made my mind up in December, I was going to retire and only [my wife] Cathy knew and the boys knew. We kept it quiet because I wanted to win the Premier League and it was great to go out a winner.

To be honest with you, I think the signing of [Robin] Van Persie, won us the league with his 29 goals that season. He was fantastic. He was that thrust in the last third of the field and the goal he scored against Aston Villa from Wayne Rooney’s pass to win the league, you couldn’t have got a better goal than that.

ON HIS LEADERSHIP AND EXPECTATIONS OF PLAYERS…

Well, leadership is basically the manager’s ability to put his personality in the team. Every time, they’re putting that jersey on as a United player. They’re playing against what my expectation is and it’s to win. Your job is to send the fans home happy.

I think that players recognise a leader who’s hardworking, is disciplined and is someone they recognise every day. You know I never changed and I think that’s important as a leader. They knew every day I was the same person.

Communication is really important and it created a strong club. I would show loyalty to players and they could come to me any time and depend on me if they were ever having problems.

ON HIS COMMITMENT TO YOUTH PLAYERS…

I looked at the history of the club. How Sir Matt Busby built his team from young players and that’s what I believed in. I did it at St Mirren, I did it at Aberdeen and Manchester United were the perfect club for me to rebuild based mainly on young players.

I understand why managers only concern themselves with the first team because in a results industry, you need to win to keep your job. I didn’t think that way.

The youth team had not been flourishing and I realised there were just not enough scouts. What really helped was Eric Harrison’s youth team. Eric was a fantastic coach, not only producing footballers, he made them good human beings. They were disciplined and tough in their training. In particular local players, you know the two Nevilles, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and then David Beckham came up from London.

I remember when I said to [then captain] Bryan Robson: “I think the youth team could beat you”. Robbo was raging. He said: “Get them out there!” So, we had a game and I said to Eric: “Get them into the United strips and run out as a team”.

On the day it was hailing at the training ground. The first team won but the match was great and it was a fantastic period.

ON THE BOND AT THE CLUB…

When you saw the dressing room after we scored these last-minute goals, it was fantastic. The players are jumping on top of each other, as are the directors and all of the staff... somebody’s thrown in the bath! It makes it all worth it. Everything you do in football is worthwhile when you see the dressing room at the end of the game like that.

And say we win the league title or a cup on a Saturday, Monday was about all the staff. The players used to serve the food and champagne to them because they were as important to me as any of the players. It was a fantastic club that way.

FERGUSON ON COMPETING WITH ARSENAL AND ARSENE WENGER…

I didn’t know him. He had been in Japan. It was a big decision for David Dein [to hire Arsene Wenger]. It was a good decision.

He’d been a successful manager at Monaco and when you look at his track record, you’re not surprised he got the Arsenal job. But, to come from Japan threw me off anyway, because I’m saying, “Who is he?” But he transformed the club fantastically.

Arsenal were a hard team to play against – they were the team that we had to beat. I always looked in the side mirror to see who’s coming from behind us.

FERGUSON ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH WENGER IN RETIREMENT…

We have a terrific relationship. It's amazing because obviously, we didn’t converse [while managing]. He had his job, I had my job… There's no doubt that we both wanted to win and both displayed that in the way our teams played the games against each other.

But over the years, through the Uefa meetings in Switzerland, Arsène and I go for dinner together in a little restaurant he knows well. I enjoy his company. He's a really interesting man. But it is still my job to pick the wine!